This question was asked by Bart on another thread and warrants a thread of its own, in my opinion.

Bart made a good and undisputable point, but would have gotten it across much, much better with less emotion and much less cursing.

The answer to the question "Are the bootleggers ripping Prince off? Or is Prince screwing himself?" is both.

No matter how you view it, the fact is and will always remain that bootleggers make and sell unauthorised copies without paying him a dime. That's ripping off for sure.

Nonetheless, at the same time Prince is in fact also screwing himself, and his fans too. It's true that he could have had a web platform 10 years ago already where he could have sold those bootlegs himself and all his post WB stuff.

He could have pleased his fans with lots of live stuff and at the same time make loads of money.

If only, if only... If only he didn't do this and if only he had done that. Yes it's a damn shame things didn't turn out like they could and should have, but it's also a tired debate about the past and a waste of time and energy.

Let's debate on how that platform should look like and what it should offer, at what price and on what conditions, service etc. What it would really take to get it good and running. And whether he should also do business with sites as youtube and itunes next to his own platform. I think it's much more constructive and productive to debate on that sort of stuff than on the past.

Here's an idea:

Just a simple website, no shiny flashy stuff, where you can download and order CD's and dvd/videos of individual songs and albums, live shows and rare 'bootleg' stuff. All in the best sound quality there is.

A sort of membership construction to get the music should be required but the membership should be free. Only when you choose to download or order you pay with a simple to use, safe payment system. Credit card optional so as not alienate those without and make everybody happy.

A user friendly download system is required, similar in use to itunes store for example. That platform should offer a steadily growing library of Prince music, preferably adding new stuff each month, but at Prince's courtesy. That makes Prince happy and when there's no obligation to pay there's no grounds to complain.

Downloads should not be DRM protected and should be fit to burn on a CD. A license should be clear and simply be for personal, private use only, reserving all other rights.

No misleading 'exclusive' deals either so nobody is dissapointed when it's not. Just a simple deal.

To avoid any new Crystal ball fiascos with CD's taking more than a year to arrive, not all music should be available on CD. The orderering system should be able to guarantee worldwide delivery within a month, maximum two and have an excellent customer service. If he can't, then he shouldn't offer it either.

Prices should be reasonable, reflecting the fact that 'the middlemen' have been cut out. I would say 5-10 $ per album of about 10 songs and 50 cts - 1$ per song. Probably not what Prince would want, but nonetheless what I believe he should accept if he wants it to become really popular and succesful. On the long term he would make more money then too.

It should be a serious, yet low investment, long term project. He don't need much to make it work. A safe and excellently operated website, customer service and payment system with strong servers to back it up and a steady stream of music is all it takes.

Perhabs there could be some news and artwork added every now and then, or he could try and have a section for fans to show their art for example. But no debating forums or other nonesen. He should leave that to the org and other fan sites which he preferably should just leave alone as long as they are not violating his integrity or damaging him financially.

The problem is of course that he feels nobody should take any of his work and run with it without permission or screw him over in any other way, which is absolutely his right. However, many times it's also pointless and a waste of time, money and energy. No matter how much you litigate the bootlegs and file sharing sites are out there and will never go away. Better to focus on what you can do to make your fans happy and make your money. Better to be smarter than the bootleggers.

That doesn't mean he should let anything go, on the contrary, but he really does need to stop threatening and sueing for any tidbit. On the other hand I don't think he needs to stop taking action against massive or blatant infringement, such as happens on sites like Pirate Bay or by commercial bootleggers. Especially not when he starts to provide the fans with the bootleg stuff and a great website himself.

That would be of course the smartest and wisest thing to do. He would be completely in his right to go after them, but he would also morally be right because he would be competing with them too. In any case it is and remains his right and he can and should be able protect it. Fans have to respect that and not bitch as long as he provides them too with that stuff and remains reasonable in excercising his rights.

I suppose that in these days of crisis, if that would be done, things could still turn out fine with the npgmusicclub, lotusflower or whatever you want to call it. After all, real fans want as much music and pay for it and a real artists wants to rlease as much of his art and get paid for it.

Question of course is if this idea can count on sympathy from all sides involved. So what's your view on this?

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[Edited 10/5/09 14:17pm]

He doesn't have to do ANYTHING.
If he does, I'll be first in line. But if he doesn't want to release stuff it doesn't justify bootleggers at all.

PANDURITO said:

Did I say that he HAS TOO?

No.

But thanks for your constructive contribution.

You're welcome


sounded like blackmail to me. I'm that sensitive

Don't misunderstand me. I'd LOVE it if he did ALL you suggest. I just love personal freedom more

PANDURITO said:

No, no, no. With that I am not trying to say that if he doesn't provide bootlegs himself he has no right to go after them anymore or that bootlegs are OK. I am trying to say that such an approach would make everybody happy, cut out the bootleggers and END that eternal cycle I would think nobody wants to continue.

Or am I totally wrong?

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[Edited 10/5/09 14:46pm]

My view is here: http://prince.org/msg/7/320069